Emotional Value Auction: What’s the Use?

Have art or crafts supplies or unfinished projects taking up physical or head space? Looking for something to spark a new idea or body of work? Want to expand your tools and materials without further depleting an inflation-impacted bank balance? If any or all of these shoes fit, walk yourself over to Spudnik Press Cooperative's parking lot from 12-3 on Saturday, October 22nd for What’s the Use?

This one-afternoon-only event is orchestrated by Inefficiency Expert, Adriane Herman, who designed this 6th iteration of her Emotional Value Auction project as a coda to her 2022 artist residency at Spudnik Press, a hub of influence, resource pooling, and individual and collaborative making.

Adriane's project champions alternative metrics of value, harnesses the power of witnessing to facilitate letting go, and highlights the generosity inherent in receiving. Authentic written communication and shared vulnerability are rewarded and are rewards in and of themselves.

Herman’s non-monetized auction format allows people to rehome things they retain because they might need them “someday,” or that they have some emotional inertia around letting go, and thus could use the nudge to release provided by knowing [how] someone else would make good use of them.

Members of the Spudnik community and the public can participate by releasing an item, a fragment thereof, and/or a stash, stack, pile or trove of items they wish to pass along to an appreciative recipient. Examples include but are not limited to: offcuts from editioning prints; drawdowns from ink mixing + matching; a tool that didn’t hit an intended spot but you sank $ into; or a precious collage element languishing in a pile or tacked to a wall for years, rendering it effectively invisible.

Each item is displayed with an anonymous statement from its owner about what they see – or saw – as the item’s potential, along with how it came into their possession. Live “bidding” takes the form of hand-written expressions of interest, which Adriane will forward to each item’s owner so they can choose someone to give the object to based on what they wrote. No money changes hands. All are welcome to attend What's the Use? .

Other important forms of participation are witnessing the process by perusing the items and reading the releasers’ statements, and telling others about this upcoming event who might wish to participate as releasers, bidders, or both.

To participate in releasing an object for What's the Use?, please .

The form asks for a photograph or drawing of what you wish to release and a written or audio statement as described above. Audio/recorded statements from items’ owners will be transcribed by the artist.

After filling out the form, a Spudnik staff will contact you about drop-off. Auction "lots" must be mailed or hand-delivered to Spudnik Press between October 18th-21st.

For questions about the auction or for the artist, please email: [email protected]

For questions regarding logistics or drop off, please email: [email protected]

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Spudnik Press, 1821 West Hubbard Street, Chicago, United States